The Week in Workouts: November 4-10

This was not a particularly active week for me, as I can't seem to get well and stay well. The past week I was feeling a bit run down and like I was getting a bad cold. It seemed to go away for a few days and then on Thursday I again started feeling poorly. At least I got in a few workouts.

Monday - gym. I did 20 minutes of weight lifting followed by 25 minutes on the stair master. I may be the only one in the world who loves the stairclimber, but I do.

Tuesday - active rest. I got in 30 minutes of walking across campus.

Wednesday - gym and yoga. I did 20 minutes of weights and then 20 minutes on the elliptical at a moderate pace. Later in the evening I went with a couple of friends to a Yin class. It was my first time in the studio in a few weeks and my hips were definitely feeling it by the end of the class. I was exhausted by the end and even drifted off to sleep for a few minutes during savasana.

Thursday - active rest. I got in 30 minutes of walking to my class and back to my office.

Friday - 2.5 mile run. I met up with a friend who was running 42 miles this week to celebrate her birthday for a couple of birthday miles on the trail system near campus. I was really congested, and she very kindly kept to my pokey pace.

Frozen Pond Seen on Our Run

Saturday - rest. By this point my cold had become full-blown, and I spent most of the day drinking oj and blowing my nose. I probably wouldn't have gone out for a run anyway, though, as we got freezing rain that turned the streets and sidewalks into a treacherous, slippery mess.

Sunday - rest. I was still feeling pretty crummy, so I spent the day on the couch, doing class prep, grading, and drinking hot tea.

I also received some bad news on Friday. The treadmill repair guy came to look at my treadmill, and it looks like the problem is not the speed sensor - which would be easy and cheap to fix, but rather a problem with the guts of the circuitry. If this is indeed the case, it may cost several hundred dollars to repair. Considering that the hours of daylight are shrinking and currently all surfaces outdoors right now are like an ice rink with a few inches of snow on top, we're debating the best course of action. For now, we're having the repair place order a new speed sensor, and we'll see if that ends up doing the trick.

Do you have a treadmill? Do you run outside when the conditions are icy?

Halloween Half Marathon Training Week 4

This past week has not been a particularly strong one in terms of training, as meetings, a bit of a cold during the week, and another crazy storm that took down another one of our trees this weekend have presented some additional challenges to getting in workouts.  

Monday - scheduled 4 miles tempo. Actual 4 miles with an easy mile to warm up, two miles at my estimated 10K pace, and an easy final mile. My average pace was 10:23, which is still a lot slower than I would like, but this was my first tempo run in a while.

Tuesday - scheduled rest. Actual rest.

Wednesday - scheduled 4 miles easy. Actual rest. On Wednesday I had a headache and sinus pressure that got worse as the day went on. Instead of running in the afternoon, I took a decongestant and a nap.

Thursday - scheduled yoga. Actual rest. When I woke up my throat was sore and I was just feeling crummy so I took another easy day.

Friday - 3 miles easy. Actual rest. I was starting to feel a bit better but I had some scheduling conflicts that meant the only time that I could have run was in the evening. However, M. and I had planned on going out to dinner and a movie. Since we hadn't been on an actual date since the wedding we attended over two months ago, I decided to prioritize that over running.

Saturday - scheduled 8 miles LSD. Actual 6.5 miles LSD. My legs were fresh so that was good, but my lungs tired out pretty easily. I was happy with getting past the 10K mark after such a lackluster week of running.

Sunday - scheduled yoga. Actual 3 miles easy. We were still under a wind advisory so, rather than getting on the road for a yoga class, I hopped on my treadmill for a short recovery run.

Total scheduled miles: 19
Actual miles: 13.5
Cross training workouts: 0

Up next for Week 5:

Monday - scheduled 3.5 miles hills.

Tuesday - scheduled yoga.

Wednesday - scheduled 4 miles easy.

Thursday - scheduled yoga.

Friday - scheduled rest.

Saturday - scheduled 11 miles LSD.

Sunday - scheduled 3 miles recovery.

After such a crummy week of training, I felt like I needed a little bit of a boost in motivation so I signed up for a local 10K here in a couple of weeks. It will be my first 10K in almost a year.  I'm excited to see how it goes and to get a sense of what my actual 10K pace is right now. I'm also really looking forward to getting back on my mat this week.

A happy and sweet new year to all my Jewish and Jew-ish readers! Happy Monday to everyone else!

A Treadmill Running Revo[e]lu[a]tion?

It's no secret I have had a love-hate relationship with my treadmill. I love it because it has made winter running in a part of the world that typically sees a substantial bit of snow and ice between November and April a whole lot easier. When I'm pressed for time, it encourages me to hop on for a quick couple of miles rather than not going for a run at all. It takes the mental work out of trying to do faster intervals. However, I'm not going to lie. Historically, I have not liked using the 'mill for runs of more than five or six miles. It gets monotonous after a few miles even with tunes. Last year I did a 16 miler on the treadmill, but M. had to come into our exercise area several times to give me a pep talk so that I would continue because I was bored out of my mind. I whined about that run for 16 days.

Several years ago, when I first started to get back into running again, I would sometimes go to the gym to run on the treadmill. I realized quickly that I could not watch the televisions at the gym while running. I got dizzy and felt like I was going to fall of the treadmill. Last year I tried to read my Kindle while running on the 'mill, and I'm pretty sure that's how I threw my back out and ended up barely able to move for a couple of days. So for years I have had only the company of my ipod and my thoughts on the treadmill, which admittedly was probably good for building some mental toughness, but some of those miles were mind-numbingly dull.

A couple of weeks ago my neck of the woods had some icy conditions on a day when I needed to get in a long run. I grabbed my ipod and headed for the treadmill only to discover my ipod battery was completely dead. I knew that if I waited until later in the day I would end up skipping my run, so I decided to try watching a dvd on my laptop. I thought that, perhaps, if the screen was directly in front of me and I didn't have to gaze up at it, I might not suffer from dizziness and that feeling of vertigo. It worked! Ninety minutes later, I had run 7 miles and walked a mile to cool down.

While I still strongly prefer doing my long runs outside (and often with company), it's nice to know that I can log the miles and watch Netflix without falling off the side of the treadmill. Winter is currently (weirdly) in abeyance here, but if it returns I have a back up.

How do you feel about the 'mill? Anyone else experience the symptoms of something akin to motion sickness when trying to read or watch tv while on it?

Where Do Lost Socks and Conditioning Go?

My partner in crime often gently mocks me because I have to buy socks at least once a month. I seriously do not know what the hell happens to them. Laundry hamper elves and dryer fairies must really be on a tight budget and love to run because even with my constant buying of socks it seems like I can never find more than two or three pairs....

This was just such the case when I went to don my running clothes this morning for a 3 mile run on my treadmill. When my run on Monday went well and I didn't have any tightness in my hip and my piriformis actually felt much better after running than it did before, I decided that I would see if I could run a little faster on my planned run for Wednesday and test my comfort level a little bit by picking up the pace. While I am glad that I did this run, I was mostly glad when it was finished. Even though I was running at a slow pace, I was struggling during the first two miles of this run. It was hard. Admittedly, I was under the weather with a stomach virus that kept me home and near to a bathroom yesterday, so that could have contributed to what felt like an utter lack of running ability. When I approached a 10min/mile pace, I felt like my heart and lungs were going to explode. And my legs felt tired. Oh, so tired.....

Long time readers will also remember that I have something of a love/hate relationship with the treadmill. When hip high drifts arrive, I'm sure that my passion for this machine will be rekindled, but after months of running outside, I find the treadmill to be challenging my mental conditioning as well. During the first mile, I really just wanted to quit and do this:

I know that my conditioning - mental and physical - from the summer and early fall is not going to come back overnight. I just find myself wishing that it would. Although I knew that my endurance was going to fall off when I got injured and took time off, I still find myself feeling a little bit surprised when a pace that felt really easy in the heat and humidity of the summer feels really difficult now. When I think about trying for a PR in a spring half-marathon, I realize just how much work I will need to do to rebuild a strong foundation of running to make that goal an attainable one.  

I'm curious to hear from other runners about this. How long can you go without running (or without running much) before you see a serious drop off in endurance and speed? What is your approach for getting it back? Also does anyone have a strategy for not losing socks?

Product Review: Schwinn 840 Treadmill*

I used to have a Merit Fitness 725T Treadmill, but when we moved, we realized that it was going to take up way too much space in our moving truck.  We posted it on craigslist and sold it within a few hours.  On the other side of the move, I realized that I probably desperately want a treadmill during the upper Midwestern winter.  

I began to research treadmills and shipping and delivery costs, and after a week of hemming and hawing, I purchased a Schwinn 840 Treadmill on amazon.com for $749.99.  I chose to go with the free shipping option, which turned out to be a good decision.  Instead of paying $134 for shipping I just waited five more days for my treadmill to arrive via ABF.

It came on Wednesday, and my hubs and I put it together.  Between the two of us, it only took about 20 or 30 minutes to put together.  It was a relatively simple task.  The instructions were easy to follow, although the manual is for both the 840 and the 860 models and we did spend some time looking for parts that the 840 doesn't actually have before we realized our mistake.  The most difficult part was getting the extremely bulky box into the workout/Bailey dog room from the garage.

The treadmill folds up really easily.  It is also about 8,000,000 quieter and feels significantly stabler than my Merit treadmill was.  Although I far prefer running outside to running on a treadmill, after two runs on it, I'm very pleased with my purchase.

I love the flexibility that having a treadmill adds to my schedule.  If you are looking to invest in a treadmill, I would recommend this one, especially at its current price on amazon.com.

Do you run on a treadmill?  Do you own one that you are happy with?


*I was not compensated in any way by Schwinn or amazon.com for this review.  However, if they see this review and want to send me a Schwinn women's hybrid bike, I won't complain....  :)